Williams Residence
El Paso, Texas

Description: Williams residence
Other Names: Stanton house
Address: 323 West Rio Grande Avenue at Los Angeles Drive (northeast corner), El Paso, El Paso County, Texas
Type: domestic: single family home
Original Client: Mr. and Mrs. (Nancy i.e. Beall) Joseph F. Williams
Historic Inventory: In Sunset Heights Historic District; on El Paso Register of Historic Places
Date: 1905
Condition: extant

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors:
Dimensions and Orientation: L-shaped with patio; 2 stories
Architectural Style: Spanish style
Budget/Cost:

Foundation: probably concrete or stone
Wall Materials: concrete; stuccoed over brick
Roofing Materials: Spanish tile
Other Materials Used: interior woodwork of Texas pine with oak trim
Remodeling and Additions: converted to apartments; later reconverted into a single family home

Present Owner: privately owned
Location of Drawings: none known to exist
Location of Documentary Photographs: El Paso Public Library: Aultman file: A5100, perspective view with landscaping; A5112, facade; A5113, patio; and 450

Bibliography: (1) Trost & Trost, Architects (El Paso: Trost &Trost, 1907), page 7 (exterior photograph); page 24 (photographs of patio and living room); page 41 (photograph of living room)
(2) Henry Hawley, A House of Spanish Character. American Homes and Gardens, volume VIII, number 1 (January, 1911), pages 20-21 (described, illustrated with floor plans and exterior photographs)
(3) El Paso Chamber of Commerce, El Paso, the Story of a City, 1883-1910(El Paso: El Paso Chamber of Commerce, [1910]), unpaged (exterior photograph)
(4) El Paso Chamber of Commerce, Prosperity and Opportunities in El Paso and El Paso’s Territory the 1911 Report of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce (El Paso: Chamber of Commerce, 1911), page 59 (exterior photograph)
(5) Harriot Howze Jones, Heritage Homes of El Paso; the J. F. Williams House,Password, volume XXIII, number 2 (Summer, 1978), pages 74-75 (description and history of the house); page 74 (exterior photograph by Ralph A. Guilliams)
(6) Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht, Henry C. Trost: Architect of the Southwest (El Paso: El Paso Public Library Association, 1981), page 34 (essay); page 33 (exterior photograph and ground plans); page 125 (bibliographical notes)
(7) Jay C. Henry, Trost and Trost in El Paso, Texas Architect, volume XXXVII, number 2, March April, 1987, front cover and pages 34-39; page 35 (brief comment, and exterior photograph by Jay C. Henry)
(8) El Paso Herald, February 28, 1905 page 7 “Many Building Projects” The newspaper list the residence being on St Vrain in 1905. The city directory list T.J. Beall living at 816 Magoffin and St Vrain.

Remarks: The house originally had a full basement with laundry and store room, and five bedrooms and two baths upstairs. The first floor included a pass through pantry, and sleeping quarters and bath for a servant. The American Homes and Gardens article cited above is one of only two examples of extensive coverage of a Trost house in a periodical of national circulation. The other house extensively covered in a periodical of national circulation is the Stevens house in El Paso.

In November 1915, the house was the locale of a key meeting in 1915 between United States General Hugh Scott and Mexican revolutionary leader General Francisco(Pancho) Villa. See page 75 in Bibliography item 5, above, and page 34 in Bibliography item 6, above.

Mr. Williams was employed at the City Bank and eventually became the president of the bank. The City Bank failed in 1927 and never re-opened. Mr. Williams lost everything in the crash, including his beautiful home. The Williams moved to a farm in the upper valley and went into the insurance business until his death.

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990